How to Beat Résumé Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS)

How to Beat Rsum Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS)How to Beat Rsum Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS)How to Beat the Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS)In 2019, the majority of companies are using resume reading robots called Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) to streamline hiring processes. With only 25% of applications reisepassing the test, its crucial that you follow ansicht tips to optimize your resume for ATS. You feel crushed you think somehiring manager on the other end actually read through the entirety of your rsumand concluded that you werent qualified for the job. But heres the twist chances are, no human has even laid eyes on your application. The truth?Youwere probably rejected by rsum reading robot called an Applicant Tracking System (ATS).Welcome to the 21st century. Large and even medium sized firms are using ATS to deal with the hundreds, if not thousands of applicants who are applying to the same positions every day. This rsum reading software allows unterstellung compa nies to automate, streamline, and manage the hiring process.Whyare companies allowing robotsto make human resource decisions?Its all about speed.Going through rsums to screen applicants is tedious work. But the ATS speeds up this process by identifying candidates whose rsums contain key experiences and skill sets that match the qualifications employers are seeking.According to a popular study conducted by search services provider Preptel, as manyas 75% of the candidates dont make it past the ATS screening. It may seem brutal,but this screening process does the job of whittling down a cumbersomeapplicant pool into just a handful of applicants that the human hiring managers can review more closely.What does this mean for you?Heres the takeaway for living in the age of rsumreading robots a well-crafted, ATS friendly rsumis absolutely critical to a successful job hunt.Qualified candidates that fail to make an ATS friendly rsum will get rejected, period. After combing the web and consult ing some of our in-house experts at Resume Genius, we zero in on the 4 most common reasons why rsums of even the most qualified candidates fail to pass screening.Reason 1 The ATS cant actually process yourrsumWarning The ATS will fail to read your artistic additions to your rsum. Although a human hiring manager might appreciate a little flair, thersum robot will simply incinerate yourrsum without a second thought.Fixability EasyIt would be a shame for your rsumto get screen out because the ATS is unable to read it. Basic rule of thumb keep your fonts and formatting simple.Sometimes theATS will usea built-in optical character recognition (OCR) software to processes your digital rsum. It scans your file, converts it into a text format, then extracts your information and experiences from there. While the ATS is getting better at reading PDF files, its still safer to feed the system a Word or Text file.Do away with any adjusted spacing, newsletter formatting, lines. Go with the clean, s tandard fonts like Arial, Verdana, and Times New Roman. Scrap inventive layouts, graphics, or artifacts that affect the readability of your rsum.Reason 2 The ATS doesnt recognize the headings you usedApplicant Tracking System softwareis built to sort your experiences based on the rsums section headings. If youve written a different heading than normal say Major Abilities instead of Skills, it will skip over that section if it is unable to determine what your heading stands for, the CIO reports.Fixability EasyPeople like to get creative with headings, thinking that it will help their rsumstand out. Unfortunately, unconventional headings can actually hurt it.Help the software do its job. Use the standard headings Work Experience, Skills, Publications so you dont stand the risk of the rsumbot placing your qualifications under the wrong categories, or misreading your headings altogether.Reason 3 Your rsumlacks targeted keywordsBy now, youveformatted your rsumproperly, and used normal h eadings. Heres the meat of how an ATS actually reads your rsum. Its looking for targeted keywords.First, the hiring manager will eingabe certain keywords and key phrases into the software,each relevant to therole they need filled.For example, an software company hiring manager might use these keywordsPythonC++JavascriptCodedProgrammedNext, the ATS software will read through each rsum, and determine whether the ithas enough keywords and key phrases to pass through the screening.If the percentage is high enough, your rsum will successfully be reviewed by an actual human.Fixability MediumYour ability to use the right keywords depends on two thingsDo you actually have the relevant skills, abilities, education, and work experiences?If you do have all or somefrom 1, doing good research and giving your rsuma hard look-over will get you through the ATSHow to selectkeywordsThe best place to begin is to readthe hiring managers very own job description. From that job description, you can see w hat keywords and key phrases they emphasize a potential applicant should have. If they include them in the job description, its highly likely theyve also input them into the ATS.The image below contains areal example of a librarian job description, and the image next to it reflects what we believe are important keywords a librarian applicant should include on their rsumsGREEN HIGHLIGHT Keywords that are CRITICAL to getting past the ATS.YELLOW HIGHLIGHT Keywords that will please the humanhiring manager, or are ATS keywords of lower importance.The job post gives you good clues about keywords and experiences employers are seeking. Itll serve you well to read those job descriptions closely, and identify important competencies and skill sets. Place emphasis on these matched experiences in your rsum.Its also helpful include both specific and general keywords in the mix. ATS uses all of these keywords into certain job functions. For your previous position as team leader, include job-specif ic buzzwords such as coordinate, manage, but having the general keyword project coordinator, project manager will help to strengthen your rsum.Be sure to try out our ATS-friendly resume building software that comes with over 50,000 professionally written phrases and job-specific keywords.Reason 4 Your rsumhas too many nonspecific keywordsSome have suggested hacking the rsumbot by submitting two or three-page long rsums that exhaust all keywords that are relevant to the job.Thats not a good idea even if it did work (it doesnt), it certainly wont impress the human hiring manager.ATS software ranks your candidacy based on how specifically your rsum matches keywords and phrases in a job description. Some software even looks for how uniquely the work experiences you listed match the job requirements.Fixability MediumHeres the rub you cant stuff your rsumwith an exhaustive list of experiences and hope to game the system into thinking youre a perfect match. Having off-target keywords can score your rsumdown on relevancy.Use the instruction from 3 to research relevant keywords and ensure that your rsumis concise and targeted. To the greatest extent possible, your rsumshoulduniquely match the requirements in the job description.To sum it up the bots are getting better at contextualizing rsums, and recruiters are always aiming to interview candidates whose experiences adhere the most closely to positions theyre seeking to fill. Therefore, having targeted, job-specific keywords throughout your rsum is more important than ever.Reason 5 Your rsumlacks industry and company jargon orabbreviationsExperts suggest that adopting industry jargon or evenincluding acompanys corporate lingowithin your rsumis a smart choice. If you think about it, its only logical for the hiring manager toinputindustry jargon and abbreviations into an ATS. Therefore, you will need to optimize your rsumto include these terms wherever possible.Fortunately, this is very simple to do.FixabilityEasyWeave relevant jargon and terminology into your rsum, and spell out the abbreviations and acronymsDO NOT ever simply include an acronym or abbreviation by itself on a rsum. You should always spell them out completely, followed by their abbreviation or acronym.Acronyms withSpelled out ExamplesFederal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent with 10+ years of experience.Optimized and purchased Pay Per Click (PPC) ads for a major software companyMaintained plant operations perfect record of zeroOperation Safety HealthAdministration (OSHA) recordablesIf youre unfamiliar with a certain industrys lingo, you canresearch jargon and abbreviations specific to the field, sector, or industry in which youre seeking employment.To sum it up a rsumwith clean formatting and clear, targeted language gets you through ATS screening. Once you land that interview, however, it would be advisable to have a more descriptive and eye-pleasing version of your rsumready for your human recruiters.